Rows of tractors clogged Whitehall outside Downing Street, stretching from Parliament to Trafalgar Square on Monday as Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer’s government has vowed to plough ahead with plans to slap a 20 per cent death tax on farms valued at least £1 million (£2m for married couples) by next year.
The leftist government has justified removing the inheritance tax exemption for farmers because some wealthy individuals have bought farmland to safeguard their assets from the state, and this wealth is needed to pay for social services like the state healthcare system.
However, others have noted that while some farms may have high land values, many farmers operate on a thin profit margin and, therefore, would be unable to pay the tax bill without selling land.
The protest on Monday comes as the government said that it will stand “steadfast” with its death tax agenda as a petition calling for reversal gained 150,000 signatures.
Some of the placards seen at the demonstration read: “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”, “Make Agriculture Great Again”, and the phrase seen at protests throughout Europe: “No farmers, No food”.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, fourth-generation farmer Matt Cowling, 40, of Padstow in Cornwall, said: “I could be the generation that loses it, it’s heartbreaking and soul destroying.”
“This Labour policy will kill British farming and kill our food security. We can’t be dependent on other countries. They’re completely out of touch. Farmers, the working class, the National Insurance hikes – it’s killing everyone.”
“I am almost not encouraging my eight-year-old son not be a farmer.”
The farmers were joined by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who vowed that if his party wins the next election, they will reverse the Labour tax grab on farmers.
Farage railed against the concept of death taxes in general, describing the scheme as “monstrous” and “immoral on every level”, arguing that it is a tax on money that has already been taxed.
The Reform UK leader suggested that there was a more “sinister” motivation by Labour’s tax grab, suggesting that the government actually wants farms to shut down to grab the land for so-called green energy projects or to build housing for the millions of migrants who will come to the country in the coming years.
“Maybe you’re not diverse enough, maybe that’s what it is,” Farage quipped.
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